Catholics take Medicaid fight to governor

In a letter delivered Wednesday to Gov. Tom Corbett, more than 1,300 Roman Catholic nuns, priests and brothers said failure to accept federal Medicaid expansion funds made available through health care reform would "breach the moral duty to those who are on the margins of society."

Representing 19 religious congregations in Pennsylvania, the signers of the letter are associated with Network, a national Catholic social justice lobby based in Washington, D.C. They include members of the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters, the Sisters of Mercy, the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, the Sisters of St. Joseph, the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia, the Brothers of Christian Schools and the Order of St. Augustine at Villanova. They have requested a meeting with the governor to discuss their experiences working with low-income Pennsylvanians without health insurance.

"Our Catholic faith tradition and Catholic social service justice teaching call us to advocate for the right of all human beings to have access to the basic necessities that enable them to live productive lives with dignity. Among those is the right to affordable health care," they wrote.

The letter stated that 11 percent of Pennsylvania's population, including 232,000 children and 1.1 million adults, lack health insurance. The Catholic lobbyists said expanding Medicare would provide health care coverage for up to 700,000 Pennsylvanians and foster savings on uncompensated care provided to uninsured people who go to emergency rooms, behavioral health expenses and other costs borne by the state.

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Many clients who consume the nearly 75,000 take-home meals a year provided by the Delaware County Interfaith Food Assistance Network would qualify for health insurance under Medicaid expansion, said Sister Sandra Lyons, who chairs the network and is also director of Justice, Peace and Earthcare for the Bernardine Franciscan Sisters.

"Providing a Medicaid expansion just follows the need people have. You can't just cut them off at one point because they don't have insurance," said the nun, who is based at the Bernardine Center in Chester.

As Pennsylvania attorney general, Corbett, a Republican, was among President Obama's political opponents who unsuccessfully challenged the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. As governor, Corbett has indicated he will reject an estimated $3.3 billion from the federal government to expand Medicaid as a result of health care reform on the premise that it would cost Pennsylvania taxpayers billions of dollars.

Christine Cronkright, deputy communications director for the governor, said Wednesday that Corbett will review and respond to the religious coalition's letter "as part of continued conversations around Medicaid expansion."

"The governor does have concerns about expanding Medicaid without reforms. We believe we can cover more people, but only if we're given the independence and flexibility from the federal government that allows us to do so in a sustainable way," said Cronkright.

She noted that Pennsylvania spends more on Medicaid than every other state except Missouri "so it is important that we analyze the costs and programmatic implications of expansion very closely."

According to Network's letter, a recent study by the Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that expanding Medicaid would save Pennsylvania $878 million in uncompensated care costs alone between 2013 and 2022 and result in $43 billion in federal money coming into Pennsylvania over a 10-year period.

Cronkright said the governor plans to meet with U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius within the next month to discuss Medicaid expansion concerns. She said Corbett's ability to meet with Network representatives will most likely depend on his schedule, but "we are always open to conversation around key issues like this."